


Me Instead (Spencer Reid x Reader)

by cardiganreid



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Behavioral Analysis Unit (Criminal Minds), F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29137776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardiganreid/pseuds/cardiganreid
Summary: You've been in love with Spencer Reid for exactly 53 days, since the day you started working with the BAU. So when he gets in a misunderstanding with an unsub, you have to make sure you get him out of the situation no matter what it takes.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Original Female Character(s), Spencer Reid/Reader, Spencer Reid/You
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Me Instead (Spencer Reid x Reader)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Until You Do](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/753234) by thelukesalvez. 



"Wheels up in thirty." Aaron Hotchner muttered before gliding out of the conference room inside the Quantico BAU building. Your team had just been briefed by Penelope Garcia on a case you were investigating. Three murders in the space of three days, every victim left with the same wound from the same type of weapon. The case was in Pennyslvania, so your team had to go on the jet for this case. You rose up from your seat at the conference table and made your way back to your desk, sitting down and staring at the case file. You hadn't seen Spencer Reid all morning, which was peculiar for him. He was on time every day without fail and him being late caused concern for you. Except you didn't want to show it. You had been madly, head over heels in love with Dr. Spencer Reid since the day you started working with the BAU - you had merely just kept it from everyone, even your best friend Jennifer Jareau. Almost as if your mind had summoned him, Spencer walked into the office a moment later and made his way to his desk which was next to yours.   
"Is everything okay?" You glanced over at him and rose an eyebrow. The frail genius looked up at you the second a word left your mouth and his lips curled into a slight smile.  
"Yeah, just overslept." He turned his attention back to his computer as he loaded it up. Responsively, you nodded and handed him your case file which had been lying on your desk. "Here, you can read up on the case. The jet's leaving in half an hour."   
...  
A few hours later, your team was on the jet. You had taken a seat opposite Spencer right by the window and it was safe to say you'd spent the entirety of the journey admiring the way his eyes skipped across the pages of the case he was reading. Your attention was only drawn away from his eyes when he cleared his throat and looked up at you. "All of these victims had blood taken from them antemortem.. this unsub needs their blood for something and it's the whole cause of his killings. He could need the blood for himself, for someone he knows. Maybe he can't afford hospital fees and is trying to care for himself or another at home?" His voice croaked slightly. You nodded as the words left his mouth and got on the phone to Penelope straight away.   
"What's up cherry tot?" Penelope's voice chimed through your phone. You proceeded to explain Spencer's idea to her and you asked her to look for any recent hospital visits where someone was diagnosed with an illness and told they needed treatment but they never returned. Almost immediately after ending the call with Garcia, the jet landed and you followed behind Spencer and Derek as you made your way to your SUV's. You leaned against the hood of yours as Hotch began addressing everyone seperately. Your phone chimed in your pocket and you opened it to find a list of suspects from Penelope. You cleared your throat and interrupted Hotchner. "Penelope has given me a list of people who were recently diagnosed and told they needed treatment but never returned to hospital - they could be killing to take the blood in order to care for themselves." Hotch carefully listened to your words and then nodded as he continued. "Alright, Reid I want you to go and question the suspects Garcia has given us. Work your way through the list. Y/L/N I want you to go to the police station and speak to the recent victim's family. See what you can get from them and see if our victims carry a pattern. Prentiss and Jareau come with me, we are going to go to the recent crime scene and see what we can find."   
...  
Yet another hour passed and you had spoken to Mary Langdon, the recent victim's mother. You didn't really manage to get much information and it seemed that none of these victims had anything in common - these were random killings. You were in your SUV driving to meet Aaron, Emily and JJ at the crime scene. You glanced at the radio attached to the interior of your SUV and saw Garcia's caller ID pop up. You answered and put her on speaker, but payed full attention to the road. "Okay so I did a little digging and you should love me even more than you already do because I am amazing! So I know it seems like none of these victims have anything in common but actually I've found that they all share the same blood type - O neg. So then I took a little look at the list I sent you and guess who else has O neg? Martin Goodman. Top of my list. Got diagnosed with an illness and lives with his son, he's really sick and hasn't been to the hospital since his diagnosis." The second you heard the name Martin Goodman you almost felt your body go numb. "Garcia... Spencer went to question Martin Goodman.. Oh my god he went to their house.. I have to go." She ended the call and called Hotch, immediately changing her route to drive to Martin Goodman's residence as she was only five minutes away. "Y/L/N? What's up?" Hotch's voice echoed through the SUV. You struggled to get your words out. You were in shock. "Hotch.. Garcia did some digging and it looks like Martin Goodman or his son could be our unsub. Spencer went to question them. He's at their house. I'm only five minutes away I'm heading there now." You stumbled over your words like a drunk man trying to climb up a set of stairs. "Okay, calm down Y/N." Hotch spoke in a gentle yet panicked tone. "Listen to me right now, you do not go in that house without backup. I'll head over now with Emily and JJ we should be around eight minutes. Do. Not. Go. In. The. House." His words ran around your mind as you pulled up to the house. "Hotch, his SUV is outside. He's in there. I'm so sorry Hotch but I'm going inside." You let out a shaky breath and shut off the car's engine. "Y/L/N don't you d-" Hotch's voice cut off when you ended the call. You got out of your SUV, not even bothering to close the door, and walked over to the front door with your gun in your hand pointed in front of you. 

You didn't even bother to knock, you simply kicked the door open with your right foot. You walked in and saw Martin Goodman sat there on a chair in the living room. You knew as soon as you looked at him that he was incapable of being responsible for these murders. You turned a corner to the kitchen and saw Martin's soon, Jonathan, stood there holding a knife. As if that wasn't enough, your heart shattered when you scanned the room and saw Spencer kneeling on the floor inches away from Jonathan, hands above his head. Your attention was dragged to Spencer's gun lying on the floor near the door. Spencer had nothing. No way of defending himself. His eyes were full of fear when he looked over at you. You kept yourself together and stopped your emotions from getting in the way of this. At first anyway. "Jonathan.. hi. I'm Y/N." Jonathans eyes were fixed to the FBI vest that you were wearing.  
"Always getting in the way!" He yelled. "Stop interfering!". You noticed Spencer flinch from the corner of your eye and you let out a deep breath. You kept yourself calm and held eye contact with Jonathan. "I'm not interfering, Jonathan. I'm actually here to help." She looked at Spencer. "He can't help you." She shook her head "He has AB blood. He's useless." She moved her focus back to Jonathan. "I'm O neg. You can let him go and take me, I'd be more helpful."

Jonathan stared at you for a moment before switching his gaze from you to Spencer and then back to you. He looked at Spencer before stepping forwards and grabbing his little curls of hair. Your breath hitched, automatically assuming the worst. However, Jonathan simply dragged Spencer outside. "Go. Or I'll kill her right in front of you." Spencer stood in the hall and looked at you with teary eyes "Y/N... what are you doing.." You frowned a little and shook your head. "Spencer it's okay. I'm okay. Go. Please." You watched him walk out and then watched Jonathan slam the door. He stormed over to you and grabbed your arm, taking your gun and throwing it on the floor. He then dragged you into a seperate room and threw you on the floor. "I'll make this quick seeing as you decided to hand yourself over like that." You let out a shaky breath and stood up. "Don't touch me." You regretted opening your mouth straight away and he smacked you across the head with a small fireplace decoration, causing your head to bleed. He pushed you back down to the floor and opened a cabinet of knives, pulling out a few alongside a small jug. You stared at the floor and held back tears. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳.. You thought to yourself 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵. You heard the front door burst open and you watched Emily and Aaron run in, their guns pointed at Jonathan. "FBI. Put the knives down. Now." Jonathan didn't cooperate so Hotchner shot him down, going over and calling a medic. You watched Emily come over to you and kneel down, pressing a hand against the cut on your forehead. She frowned a little "Come on, there's ambulances outside they might need to stitch that up."   
...  
That afternoon, your team was on the jet making the journey home. There were only a few moments left on your flight. At the crime scene, Spencer had completely avoided you, simply getting in his SUV and driving off. You were about to get up and go over to him before you sat back down as Hotchner approached you. He sat in the seat opposite you. "Y/L/N, I specifically told you to wait for backup. Don't ever go against protocol like that. Ever." He stared at you with his piercing eyes and spoke with his stern tone. You simply nodded in response "I'm so sorry Hotch.. it was.. it was Spencer. I couldn't let.. one of my team.. get hurt like that." He didn't want to get into a discussion about this so he nodded and told you once again not to repeat your actions. Once he left you walked over to Spencer and sat down in the empty seat facing him. "Hey.. Spencer." He didn't say a word to you. He didn't even look up from his book to pay any attention to you. You sat there for a moment before letting out a deep breath "Spence." Your words caused him to snap his book shut and get up from his seat, walking off to a separate part of the jet. It felt like you had been stabbed in the neck. All you could feel was this horrific pain of not being able to take a breath and you forced yourself to restrain the tears that were yearning to leave your eyes. Once the jet landed, you got off and made your way inside to the office. You got your stuff together from your desk and shut down your laptop ready to go home. You glanced up at the conference room and saw Spencer stood in there alone, cleaning up last bits of case files and loose papers. You wanted to talk to him, but then you didn't. You wanted to explain your actions, but you were scared. You started to walk to the exit of the building before changing your mind. You had to talk to him whilst you still had the chance to.

You headed back to the conference room and walked in, closing the door behind yourself and looking over at Spencer as he piled up the case files in his hands. "Spencer please just hear me o-" You were cut off by him responding to you in a loud, irritated voice. "What?" He stared at you with a hurt, angry gaze. "What could you possibly say to defend your actions Y/N? You went against Hotch's orders today and you broke protocol. All for what? So you could put yourself in danger just to play the hero?" His expression changed from anger to sadness. He was clearly upset and you couldn't stand it. "Spence.." Your voice was soft and gentle. "I know I broke protocol but I didn't do it just to 'play the hero'. I did it because I would rather be in that position than have to deal with knowing it's you in that position. Deal with the aftermath of you being in that position. I did what I did today because I'm in love with you, Spencer Reid. Not so I could look like some brave heroine." You spilled all your emotions out and just stood there looking at him once you were done, searching for any hint of emotion on his face. He stood still for a couple of minutes before smiling to himself and shaking his head. "Why didn't you just tell me that, silly? Why'd you leave me to find out in such a horrible situation Y/N?." He walked over to you and rested his soft, warm hands under your cheeks. "I love you too Y/N. I have since the day you started working here." He gave you a warming look and pulled you into a loving hug, wrapping his arms around you and rubbing his hands against the creases in the back of your cardigan.


End file.
